The Challenge of Peace-Making and the Pursuit of Justice with Mac Maharaj

Date & TimeOctober 12, 20176:00pm - 7:00pm

Location

Cabot Auditorium

Program

EPIIC

Mac Maharaj was a member of Nelson Mandela’s inner circle during the days of resistance in South Africa. In 1977, after spending 12 years in prison on Robben Island, he was appointed secretary of the Internal Political and Reconstruction Department of the ANC. He served on the Revolutionary Council and National Executive Committee of the ANC, an underground program of armed resistance against the apartheid government. After Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, Maharaj was a lead negotiator for the ANC in talks with the National Party government and Joint Secretary of the Transitional Executive Council, overseeing South Africa’s transition to democracy. Mandela appointed Maharaj minister of transport upon becoming president in 1994; Maharaj served in parliament until 1999. Recently, he was also the official spokesperson for South African President Jacob Zuma.

“...[H]e dedicated his whole life to freeing us from the oppression of apartheid and to teaching our country to be inclusive so that the unity of our diversity is a cause for celebration, not conflict...In pursuit of the struggle he regarded his own life as a disposable commodity, yet throughout all he maintained his wholeness of self. His humanity was immune to the evil that tried to destroy him.”

-- Nelson Mandela from
Shades of Difference: Mac Maharaj and the Struggle for South Africa

Co-Sponsored by Peace and Justice Studies, The Africana Center, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and The International Relations Program